Is there a YouTube Music desktop app?

Not an official one. Google has never shipped a desktop app for YouTube Music; the web player at music.youtube.com is the official way to use it. On Windows you still have three real options: install the web player as an app, run a web-view client, or use a native player that streams the same catalog.

Option 1: install the official web player as an app

Chrome and Edge can turn any site into an app with its own window and taskbar entry. For YouTube Music:

1. Open music.youtube.com in Chrome or Edge and sign in if you want your library.
2. In Chrome, open the menu and choose Cast, save and share, then Install page as app. In Edge, choose Apps, then Install this site as an app.
3. Launch it from the Start menu. You now have a dedicated YouTube Music window.

This is the closest thing to an official desktop app, it costs nothing, and it stays in sync with your account. What it doesn't give you: a miniplayer, crossfade, a queue you can drag, or your local files. It is the web player in its own window, nothing more.

Option 2: web-view clients

Apps like YouTube Music Desktop App (ytmdesktop) and Pear Desktop wrap the same web player in an Electron shell. They are open source and free, and they add real conveniences: plugins, themes, and in Pear's case SponsorBlock. But the core is unchanged. It is still the web player's engine, the web player's queue and the web player's approach to lyrics. And there is no local library, because the web player has none.

Option 3: a native player that streams YouTube Music

ByTune takes a different route. It isn't the web player in a costume: it talks to YouTube Music's catalog directly and plays streams through its own audio engine. Around that engine sit the things a desktop player should have had all along:

• Your local files in the same library as streaming: one queue, one shuffle, one set of playlists
• Word- and line-synced lyrics from more than a dozen providers, with per-track offset
• Crossfade up to 12 seconds with beat-aware automix
• Media keys and the Windows system media overlay, working out of the box
• An always-on-top miniplayer you can drag and resize
• Replay: monthly listening stats that stay on your machine

Streaming needs an internet connection, and ByTune is not affiliated with Google. The source is public under GPL-3.0. Take the full tour of the player, or read how the synced lyrics engine works. If you want to compare ByTune with subscription apps first, the Spotify alternative breakdown and the homepage comparison lay out the differences.

The honest limits

• Every option on this page is unofficial, including ByTune. The catalog comes through the same public endpoints the web player uses, and a future change on Google's side could break playback.
• Streams play at up to 256 kbps AAC. That is the best YouTube Music serves; it is not lossless.
• Downloads save .m4a files, but playing those files back inside ByTune isn't built yet.
• The installer isn't code-signed yet, so SmartScreen asks for confirmation on first run.
• Windows only for now. A macOS build is planned.

Side by side

Fair questions